This invention relates to a water closet or toilet which is conventional in every respect except for the fill valve control that prevents any continued flow of water from the storage tank. A characteristic feature of this invention is the provision of a reservoir in which the water level responsive fill valve operates independent from the water storage tank water level. Accordingly, a conventional toilet bowl and trap (not shown) supports a conventional storage tank equipped with the usual overflow pipe and flush valve unit heretofore referred to as the "Douglas valve", and the usual level control means heretofore referred to as the "ball-cock". The level control means restores the storage tank water to a ready to flush level after each flushing, and the flush valve releases the stored water at a rapid rate for flushing the toilet bowl. State of the art level control fill valve units and flush units are shown herein, it beings understood that there is a wide variety of such valves as they are supplied as replaceable units.
It is a general object of this invention to prevent storage tank leakage when the flush valve unit deteriorates and water flow cannot be stopped thereby. However, the fill valve level control means is far more reliable and its failure, if at all, is taken care of by the overflow pipe of the flush valve unit. In practice, deterioration of the flush valve results in gradually increased leakage which lowers the water level in the storage tank, or sudden breakage can occur, and with a conventional installation this wasteful failure is automatically compensated for by the level responsive fill valve unit which continuously discharges water into the storage tank. It is this automatic wasteful compensation that is eliminated by this invention, in that no water can be continuously discharged into and drained from the storage tank. A one-time-only discharge of a full tank of water can occur, this reservoir fill valve control preventing any further drainage from the storage tank which then remains dry until repair is made.
It is an object of this invention to isolate the fill valve from the storage tank and make it responsive to a separate water level that changes according to the normal flushing cycle of the toilet and not affected by a leaking flush valve or flush valve failure that results in an empty storage tank.
It is an object of this invention to provide a control reservoir with a fill means and a reservoir drain means whereby 1) storage tank water fills said reservoir so that the fill valve shuts OFF the water supply and maintains a FULL level thereof in both the reservoir and the storage tank, and 2) reservoir water discharges upon manual operation of the flush valve handle when flushing the storage tank water, so that the fill valve opens to refill the storage tank and reservoir. In the passive ready-to-flush condition the storage tank and control reservoir have a common water level, the reservoir having been filled by overflow water from the storage tank. In and during the flush condition the reservoir drain means is operated to deplete the water level in the reservoir for response by the fill valve to discharge supply water into the. storage tank. At the end of the fill condition the high level of storage tank water overflows into the control reservoir to raise the water level therein and shut OFF the fill valve. And, in the event of a leaking storage tank or flush valve failure the control reservoir water level remains high so that the fill valve is shut OFF. In its preferred form, the reservoir drain means is a syphon that is submerged in the control reservoir and fully primed and dormant when the flushing system is in the passive condition, syphoning of the control reservoir being simultaneously initiated with opening of the flush valve during a normal flushing operation.
Another object of this invention is to provide a restart means for the flushing system. For example, if the storage tank is empty and the control reservoir full, the fill valve will be shut OFF. In order to fill the storage tank in a normal manner, I have provided the reservoir drain means, preferably a syphon with a movable leg that discharges the control reservoir so that the fill valve responds to turn ON the water supply to the storage tank. The movable leg of the syphon is operated manually by the toilet flush handle.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for inherent filling of the control reservoir in the event of a catastrophic failure in the flushing system. For example, the storage tank may be rendered incapable of filling, in which case the conventional fill valve would normally remain open or ON. However, the conventional "refill tube" of the fill valve is employed herein to discharge into said control reservoir and is metered to fill the same within a determined short length of time. There are flush toilets wherein the fill valve inherently refills the toilet bowl and trap with seal water so as to prevent escape of gas from the sewer system. And there are flush toilets wherein the aforesaid "refill tube" is required by Code to ensure refill of the toilet bowl trap. And also, there are flush toilets wherein the toilet bowl trap is inherently refilled with seal water, with no Code requirement for the trap refill tube function. Accordingly, there are flush toilets wherein the "refill tube" function is redundant and therefore unnecessary.
Since the "refill tube" is a feature present in many conventional fill valve units, it and its function is advantageously employed to ensure refilling of the control reservoir R as disclosed herein. In practice, the refill tube can simultaneously refill both the control reservoir and the toilet bowl trap.